Darren Aronofsky is the well-known film director behind Requiem for a Dream, and more recently, Black Swan. He has made a series of shocking adverts – each stressing the horrible consequences of abusing methamphetamine, or Tik as it is known here. Be warned however, even though these are must-see material, some of them are very disturbing and probably NSFW.
Orion Cold Storage, a Cape Town-based food distributor, has been caught red-handed lying about an extensive range of food products destined for shop shelves. Undercover footage recorded by an employee on his cellphone between February and August this year shows an employee “blessing” food as Halaal when it clearly isn’t.
Some organisation by the name of “The Central Drug Authority”, is here to tell you how bad you are. Or, in the words of the authority’s acting chairman, Dr Ray Eberlein, “If we had a boozing world cup, South Africa wouldn’t even have to practise.” Duh, Dr Ray, we already had one. And I’m still hanging from it.
Strokes can have massive effects on the body and mind, and are known to be occasionally transformative. Perhaps none more-so than the stroke experienced by Chris Birch during a rugby training incident in Wales. Birch,26, claims to have woken up after suffering a stroke feeling very different, and that the incident had turned him into a gay man. He was engaged to his girlfriend at the time.
Looks like the only bottles in da club for Lil Weezy will be the ones filled with mineral water. Following his recent conviction for drug possession, the rapper isn’t allowed to consume alcohol or associate with anyone knowingly engaged in narcotics – good luck. Let’s see if he can last longer than (Camps Bay) “twenty minutes my broda”.
We’ve all read the Guide to Klapping Gym Boet, and while it’s an amazing read, and wonderfully illustrates the way countless people feel about “charnas” in gyms around the world, no one took it to heart. Or at least we thought not, until some mad American gymster, who was the embodiment of the Guide, died trying to take things to the next level.
Terrorist attacks don’t discriminate. Whether you’re pushing 99 or just taking your first steps, if you’re in the affected area, you’re in trouble. In light of this, and the real risk of a biological attack on the US, American scientists and officials are advocating the testing of an Anthrax vaccine on children.
Unlike the plethora of social networks out there where you can simply click an ‘x’ and all those nasty, unwanted comments drift off into cyberspace, in real life there’s no quick solution for rejection or other social setbacks. But, what if you could just pop a pill, the legal, over-the-counter type, and make it all go away?
Breast cancer is a big deal. But recent studies show that many young women aren’t checking their breasts regularly. That is why the people behind the Rethink Breast Cancer campaign have launched a new iPhone App called “Your Man Reminder”. It gives woman regular reminders by a hot guy to check their breasts. And this advert they’ve made to promote it is an absolute must-see.
Abdus-Salaam Ebrahim, the national coordinator of People Against Gangsterism And Drugs, is busy resurrecting Pagad following his release from prison. The 61-year-old spent nine years in jail and two on parole, but now that he’s a free man, he is driving the resurgence of his movement, with plans to open branches around the country.
The latest in a series of phenomenally creative, Hollywood movie style smuggling stories involves false-bottomed cars, parking meters and a total of 16 tunnels. Of course no one was caught in the act, but if you guessed that the tunnels were supposed to be filled with drugs and some very naughty Mexicans, you’d be correct.
For all those shallow Hal’s, cheap dates and general sloppy drunks (we all know at least one), this little guy’s for you. The “stay-sober pill”, is still in development stages, but is said to allow you to drink as much as you want and still stay sober as a judge. Or prevent you from getting laid.
The South African and Vietnamese governments have come together and agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding that will seek ways to stop rhino poaching. Ironically, the Vietnamese officials asked that a domestic medical research institute verify that rhino horn had no medicinal properties, and to make this information public.
From the Brazilian super model to Crocs, everything eventually has its time in the sun. That rule also applies fully to health food. The “newest” African superfood has been growing on some really old trees for a really long time – it’s Baobab fruit.
The mother of a young school child in Missouri has been arrested, following her son’s show and tell day with his kindergarten class. Because, unfortunately, the subject of the little boy’s S&T presentation this month was his mom’s crack pipe.
The University of Washington has finally found a way to make us of the mental energy expended by online gamers – recruiting them to decipher the structure of monomeric enzymes, found in retroviruses like HIV, by playing an online game called Foldit. Researchers had been working on it for the past decade; the collective gamers did it in three weeks.
Would-be ginger sperm donators are being turned away from genetically-picky sperm banks in droves. It’s practically an orange tide of rejection. Citing “minimal” demand for the love seed of ginger-crowned males, the world’s largest sperm bank, Cryos, has been turning fanta-pantsed donor applicants away at the front door.
A tender awarded by the finance minister for a fresh supply of government condoms had to be set aside. The tender then went to the second-lowest bidder. The reason? They originals were made in China and were found to be too small for the African market. Awkward.
The former Republican vice-presidential contender, Sarah Palin, is alleged to have taken cocaine and smoked weed in a new controversial and highly anticipated biography written by Joe McGinniss. Oh, it’s also alleged that she cheated on her husband (though she’s vehemently denied this before) and let the kids fend for themselves quite a bit.
A 130kg man has sued a popular American fast-food giant, because the sitting booths in their restaurants are apparently “too small”. He is claiming that the uncomfortable booths violate the civil rights of fat people. In all fairness, this guy probably has a point. It is, after all, guys like him that spend the most money there.
This really has nothing to do with making your pet cat fluorescent so that you can see it in the dark and not stand on it when you get up to go the toilet at night. It has, however, everything to do with the similarities between human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV).
In what must have seemed like a scene straight from a movie, hundreds of Orthodox Greek mourners were mistakenly served kourabiedes, a traditional Greek biscuit, at a funeral reception. Shortly after tasting the biscuits, the guests started acting incredibly strangely and the funeral bureau officers called the police.
And in good news: researchers at the University of Cambridge re-examined the results of seven existing studies and concluded that high levels of chocolate consumption might be associated with a reduction in the risk of developing heart disease. The research was presented at Europe’s biggest medical meeting in Paris yesterday.
A Human Rights Watch report has discovered that at least two wine farms in South Africa are still using the illegal ‘dop system’ as part-payment for farm workers. The practice was prohibited in 1928, and its poisonous legacy is rooted deep in the social fabric of farm-worker communities in the Cape.
A new film that seeks to portray the life of Lady Margaret Thatcher has a fair amount of people hot under the collar. Directed by Mamma Mia! director, Phyllida Lloyd, the film shows Lady Thatcher constantly hallucinating, under the impression that her husband, who died in 2003, is still alive, while she herself appears to be going senile.
A new National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme is currently underway. If you think this does not affect you because you already have medical aid, think again. The Health Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, said yesterday that the law, with no exceptions, would soon require us to contribute towards this scheme once it starts up. This is above and beyond the tax that everybody already contributes.
So it looks like Brazil is at the forefront of drugvertising, and Amy is there number one brand ambassador. Apparently a gang has been using her likeness to market baggies of coke, inserting her picture inside and dubbing her as ‘Amy House’. Guess who they were putting in their bags of crack? Osama Bin-Laden.
Her untimely death shocked millions of people, but as proof that every cloud has a silver lining, a duet between Amy Whinehouse and Jazz Legend Tony Bennett is to be released as a charity single. All royalties from the pop classic Body and Soul, are to go to an organisation set up by Amy’s father, curbing youth drug use.
If all goes according to plan, it won’t be long before residents in Jozi face fines for improperly managing their waste. While the move will definitely result in a fair amount of complaining, it’s arguable that recycling has been happening around the world for ages. In fact, it should be a habit and duty for all of us.
There’s a growing body of evidence supporting the idea that alcoholism can be passed to one’s children genetically. So too, an addiction to drugs like crack cocaine. But recently, medical facilities in the US have reported an overwhelming number of cases of babies hooked on the same prescription drugs that were abused by their mothers during pregnancy.